Keetmanshoop youth want hunger and unemployment eradicated

Young people at Keetmanshoop want their votes to help eradicate the country’s high rate of hunger and unemployment.

In addition, they also call for an overhaul of the national education system.

Faith Mugunda (19) says hunger affects many households in the //Kharas region, while young people are buckling under the scourge of unemployment.

The youth comprise the majority of eligible voters registered for the 2024 presidential and National Assembly elections, totalling with 901 300 of 1 467 604 voters in the country and at diplomatic missions abroad.

“I came out early to vote today and stand in these queues because I want the government to address poverty and unemployment,” Mugunda said on Wednesday.

“There are no jobs for young people. How can we help our parents if we cannot even help ourselves? As young people, we are disillusioned. Every day our self-esteem drops and we wonder what type of a future we will have in this country,” she said.

As of 2023, the youth unemployment rate soared to a staggering 46.1%, according to the Namibia Statistics Agency. This year has seen more than 400 young people, including graduates, turn up for one cleaners’ vacancy at a Rundu school, as well as more than 2 000 hopefuls vying for four waiters’ positions at a Windhoek restaurant.

Mugunda believes the debilitating state of unemployment experienced by the youth is exacerbated by the national education system, with fewer than 50% of pupils qualifying for tertiary education.

“Many of my friends and I struggle with the AS level, and the two-year course of Grade 10 to Grade 11. None of these things make sense, and we cannot continue like that as we just [end up on] the streets. The government needs to understand that our future is being harmed by this education system,” she added.